Arc Light right at home with small musical at Apollo

PEORIA — A small production with only four characters, the musical “Ordinary Days” is just the right size for the historic Apollo Theatre.

Produced by Arc Light Theater Company, the musical will run May 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available at the door or by calling 455-4095.

And since even small musicals can be pretty demanding, it’s helpful that the four cast members in “Ordinary Days” are very accomplished — Sarah Seymour, who plays Claire, is a voice teacher and choral director with a master’s in music from Boston Conservatory; Julie Peters, who plays Deb, teaches drama at Illinois Central College and Peoria Academy, and graduated with a master’s in fine art in theater performance from Savannah College of Art and Design; Gregory Schamberger, a vocal performance major from Bradley University recently returned from studying in Copenhagen, Denmark; and Jeffrey Dare, orchestra director at Illini Bluffs High School, has a graduate degree in music from The University of Illinois.

Director Jeff Driscoll is excited to be doing the production in the theater, which opened in 1914 and was built for the sole purpose of showing motion pictures. When 70 feet of the back of the building was removed to make room for a parking garage in 1960, the small backstage disappeared. Because of the space limitations, the theater can be used only for very small shows.

“Ordinary Days” is a good fit.

“The original production was written to be very, very bare bones,” said Driscoll. “We’ll bring in one small platform, a table and a couple chairs and some different hand props.”

Driscoll is an old hand at doing small, mobile productions. Arc Light’s home theater is in Illini Bluffs High School in Glasford — they only get to use it in the summer when school is out. During the winter they do a few performances at various sites around central Illinois, like the holiday show they put on at Coyote Creek Golf Club at Christmas time. Venues like that require minimal productions.

While small was something Driscoll and crew were looking for, they also wanted a great show. “Ordinary Days” met that criteria as well.

“The production follows two couples in New York City,” said Driscoll. “What drew me to the story is the fact that the two pairs never actually meet, they never have a moment together, but the choices that each pair makes will affect the other’s story. It’s a reminder that you can go through life and affect the lives of others that you never meet.”

Claire and Jason are in a romantic relationship, but when Jason tries to push the relationship to another level, Claire balks. It’s through the actions of the other pair, Deb and Gregory, who just met, that Claire begins to understand why she’s afraid of committing to Jason.